Chapter 018

If I'm Lucky

Thursday, January 20, 2011, 9:05 a.m.

Kol's Study

Kol takes Bonnie's hand leading her into his study. Grabbing his grimoire off the shelf where he keeps it when he's not using it, he places it on the desk and opens it to The Linking Spell. My ever-observant baby girl frowns because the spell is actually way towards the front of the book and definitely before any of the spells she's seen him write in it since he got his magick back, so she asks him, "Kol, um, when did you write The Linking Spell?"

He sighs and tells her, "I began writing it in mid-June of 1701 about 10 months before Chalina was murdered by Mikael. I knew he wouldn't stop until we were all dead, and I worried about her safety, so I began work on the spell. I had a challenging time writing it because the easiest way to do it would be to use dark magick. I absolutely refused to suggest that my Little Rose do any dark magick ever no matter that it would keep her with me for all time, so it took longer."

He rubs the back of his neck and says, "Anyway, obviously eventually I managed to write a non-dark version, but that didn't happen until very recently, so I didn't finish it in time to protect her."

Bonnie grabs his hand and squeezes, so he squeezes hers back and says, "Once she died, I was daggered for about 120 years, and when I woke up I had no interest in anything that might remind me of my loss, so I barely even opened the book until the second time I woke up, never mind looked at the spell. However, when I met you, well, honestly, I knew early on that I wanted you forever, so I started working on finishing the spell. I struggled with it for a while, but my Christmas gift from you had all Chalina's notes on the spell in it, so that helped me work out the last little bits of it, so I finished it a few days ago. If your mother hadn't been here last night, I would have shown it to you first, but I really did want to take advantage of her being here to physically read the spell straight from the book so she could read the notes in the margins and the explanations as to why I chose to do things each way."

He gestures towards the book and says, "Now sit and read it over a few times, and make sure you're really ready to do it. I prefer to do it before we leave Mystic Falls, but if you're not ready to do it before that, then I'll wait as long as you need me to. I'll be annoyingly overprotective so as not to repeat history, but I'll wait until you're sure you're ready, okay? This spell will make us one, but you should feel no pressure. You're in charge of what happens here as well as when it happens."

She nods and sits in his chair when he motions towards his seat before he slides the book closer to her and she reads it. Five times. After the fifth time, she gets up and begins pacing in front of his desk.

They'll both have to drink each other's blood from the vein. She stops and stands still thinking, 'Um, okay, I can do this. It's Kol. It's not Damon tearing into my throat because he's pissed at me for destroying what he thought was the only way to save Katherine.'

Kol wraps his arms around her from behind and rests his chin on her shoulder before asking, "Little Bella, your heart is hammering in your chest, your body is stiff, your breathing is quick and labored, and you're trembling. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're frightened. Talk to me. What's going on inside that pretty little head of yours because I can't address it if you don't tell me what it is, and the last thing I want is for you ever to fear me."

She swallows thickly, but tells him, "It's not you I'm scared of. I promise."

He squeezes his arms around her gently and asks, "But you are scared?"

Since she knows that a threat to her, past or present is the only thing at this point that might induce Kol to break their truce she gulps and sends up a silent little prayer, 'Please don't let him go hunt down Damon after I explain.'

Turning her head slightly, she tells him, "Um, we have to bite each other for this spell."

He nods with his chin still resting on my baby girl's shoulder before he asks, "What exactly about that is scaring you, Little Bella?"

Frowning, she brings her arms up to hold onto his arms holding her, more for moral support than to keep him in place, and then she tells him, "Well, the only time I've ever been bitten, it, well, it hurt, and it was, up to that point, the scariest event in my whole life."

His arms tighten around her just a little before he asks, "Who bit you, and what were the circumstances that led to you being bitten?"

With a deepening frown she asks, "Um, do you promise you won't seek vengeance?"

She can hear the frown in his voice when he says, "That means it's someone who still exists, someone we know, someone you consider a friend."

She nods at that, so he asks, "Which Salvatore? Is this why you are so leery of Stefan?"

Her eyes widen, and she turns her face to look at him before asking him, "Wait, what about Stefan?"

Kol squeezes her again and tells her, "I've noticed you get very tense whenever his name is brought up, and Beks has mentioned that she's noticed the same thing whenever you see him, or he enters a room you're in. I was just wondering if he attacked you, and that's why he makes you so nervous."

Frowning deeper my granddaughter says, "Oh um, you promise you won't—"

He sighs and in a soft reassuring voice interrupts her, "Bonnie have I attacked your friends even once since we made our deal?"

She shakes her head to answer that no he has not done anything of the sort. Nodding his head against her shoulder he then continues, "I need you to have a little faith in me that I'm not going to go slaughter all of your friends. As far as I know, I haven't done anything to indicate that I will, even when they deserved a good beating, so I need you to trust me, can you do that?"

She stops and really thinks about it, and then she gasps, 'God, I really do trust him, completely and unequivocally,' so she tells him, "I'm sorry that wasn't fair to you and was mostly a conditioned response and not an indication of my level of trust in you. You're right. You haven't done anything to lead me to believe you're a threat to my friends. I'm sorry."

He turns his love to face him and cups her cheeks in his big hands before telling her, "I know old habits die hard, Bonnie, and that for most of the time that you've known about vampires you haven't trusted any of us. I believe you said you didn't trust us farther than you could throw us. I get that changing that belief takes time and patience not to mention my actually earning that trust, so I'm not angry."

She nods then she shows him just how much she trusts him by telling him, "Damon came back to town in the Fall of 2009 planning to use the Comet flying overhead to break into this tomb that had vampires trapped inside it since September 1864. He thought Katherine was one of them, and he loved her, so he wanted to rescue her. It was the whole reason he existed up to that point. Anyway, he thought this crystal that belonged to Emily was the way into the tomb. I wound up in possession of it, and Emily possessed me and used me and my magick to destroy the crystal. When Emily left me, the circle protecting me dropped, and Damon pounced on me and tore into my throat. Stefan pulled him off me and fed me his blood to heal me, and then Elena took me home and told me about vampires and how they're real."

She pauses then adds, "I knew beforehand that Damon wasn't human, but I hadn't put two and two together yet, so up to that point I didn't actually know that you guys were real. Anyway, it hurt, a lot, and it was, like I said, the scariest thing that had happened to me at that point in my life."

His hands reach up, and he uses his thumbs to brush her tears away prompting her to wonder, 'Wait, tears? I'm crying?'

The memories of that night obviously still disturb and upset her, so it's no surprise when he frowns at her tears. Looking at her with sad eyes for a minute he then tells her, "No wonder you hated vampires so much. Thank you for trusting me with that story. I won't betray the trust you've given me by attacking Damon, even if he would deserve it."

She sighs deeply before he kisses her forehead and then pulls away, so he can look her in the eyes, and still holding her cheeks in his huge hands, he tells her, "There are several types of bites. The first is the kind Damon gave you. It's done in anger, and it's violent in its very nature. The kind The Linking Spell requires, however, is gentle and loving. If I do it correctly, and I've had more than 600 years to perfect my bite, you won't feel much more than a pinch as my fangs slide in. And after that, it should feel wonderful."

He smiles then it dims a bit before he asks, "Are you at all worried that I'll drain you? To be honest, I have no intention of taking any more than necessary, so I'll only take a few mouthfuls."

Quickly shaking her head, my grandbaby tells him, "N-no, I know you care for me and wouldn't kill me. I also trust that you won't turn me."

He leans down and kisses her gently before pulling back and saying, "Thank you for that Bonnie, your certainty that you are safe with me humbles me, and you are correct, of course, because the whole point of this spell is to prevent you from being able to die."

He pauses and then asks, "What can I do to make it less frightening for you?"

Frowning and looking down at their feet, she tells him, "I'm not sure there is anything you can do except us just doing it and me seeing that you can bite me without it hurting. Um if we ever have… um, well Elena said that once Stefan began having little sips of her to regulate his ripper-ness that he liked to um, well… while they were, um…"

He gently laughs at her innocence and inability to say the word sex. He kisses her lips quickly and then tips her chin up so he can look in her eyes again, "It's true. Vampires often bite during intercourse, but if we do this spell and you decide you never want me to bite you again, then I'll honor that request. I am hopeful, though, that you'll enjoy it and not object to me biting you when we do become intimate because blood sharing is an integral part of vampire mating practices."

She giggles and thinks, 'God, he's so cute when he gets so formal in his speech.'

He looks at her with a raised eyebrow and quirked lips, so she explains the giggle, "It's just you're so cute when you speak so formally. The morning after we made our deal I thought that you sometimes sound like you're straight out of a historical romance novel. Your 'old world-ness' is part of your appeal. Like how you helped me sit at the coffee shop that first day. Anyway, that's why I giggled because you were very formal in your speech so um…"

He smiles at her, so she knows he's not angry about anything she just said, but he tells her, "We're quite the pair, aren't we? You like my 'old world-ness,' as you put it, and I like your modernity. You don't wait around for the man to come and save you, and although I'm perfectly capable of saving you, and will anytime I can, you're also perfectly capable of protecting yourself and your loved ones in most cases. You're intelligent, capable, quick thinking, and willing to fight if necessary. Throughout history, women deferred to men much more than they do today, and I like the fact that you're, I believe the phrase is, 'an independent woman.'"

My baby girl smiles and nods so he continues, "I like that about you. And sometimes you say the funniest things when you use modern slang and colloquialisms."

Laughing at that, she tells him, "I guess we are quite the pair and quite perfect for each other because few others would fit the bill for either of us."

He nods so she looks back towards the book and tells him, "I want to do the spell now."

Pulling away from her a little to look her in the eye he asks, "Are you sure, Bonnie, I meant it when I said I'll wait for as long as necessary. Remember there is no going back once the spell is performed so be very sure."

Smiling she tells him, "I'm sure, in fact, I don't think I've ever been more sure of anything in my whole short life."

He smiles back, leans in, and kisses my baby girl before pulling away and going to his herb cabinet. He begins taking things off the shelves and setting them on his work table.

She watches him pour things into the copper bowl and then mix them. He uses some spring water out of a bottle to make the herbs drinkable and then stirs it 27 times clockwise.

When he finishes doing that, he picks up the bowl in one hand and takes her other hand and leads her into his bedroom. He walks them to his bed and then says, "Climb up, Little Bella, this is another instance of us possibly dropping after the incantation is said and the blood is shared so best to already be lying on a soft surface."

She giggles and kicks off her shoes before climbing onto his big bed. Before she can joke about him wanting her in his bed again, he climbs on after her and drinks half the potion, and then he hands the bowl to her, so she drinks the rest of it.

Fortunately for them, it doesn't taste too bad. After she hands the now empty bowl back to him, she lays back as he puts it on the bedside table and then he says the first half of the words that will bind them for all time before he leans in and kisses her softly. They kiss slow and soft for several long minutes before he trails his kisses down over her chin to her neck. She tenses before he whispers, "Relax, Little Bella, nothing but pleasure, okay?"

She nods and then feels a slight pinch before she's cumming harder than she ever has. He takes a few sips then he reaches over to the bedside table and after opening the drawer with one hand, he grabs something.

She soon realizes it's a dagger when he slashes his throat and tells her, "Drink, Little Bella."

Looking at the wound oozing blood for a minute she screws up her nerve before leaning up and wrapping her lips around the curve of his neck. She sucks taking three big swallows before Kol whispers the last half of the words, "I will cherish our union and love you more every day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through moments of joy and celebration as well as through trials and tribulations, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both exist."

Her gaze meets his before she nods and repeats the vow before adding, "In Jesus' name, Amen." As soon as the last word crosses her lips her eyes drift shut, and stars burst behind her closed eyelids as pleasure races over her nerve endings while she cums hard again, and then neither of them knows anything.

When Kol comes to, he's laying half on top of Bonnie who is still unconscious. He rolls over, taking her with him so that now she's laying on top of him. The citrus and woodsy flowery scent of her cum is thick in the air, and he wants to rub himself all over her, but he wisely holds back the urge and just holds her in his arms until she wakes.

While he lays there, he contemplates what just happened, 'She said yes to coming to New Orleans, and she not only agreed to do the spell, but she actually did it with me already.'

He doesn't have words for how incredibly pleased and happy both things make him. His muscles are relaxed, and his mind is at ease in ways they haven't been in an awfully long time as if he was just waiting for her to come into his world and then bind herself to him for all of eternity.

It was all he could do last night, not to go visit her at her house and beg her to say yes. She told him she was pretty sure she would say yes, but once she left their home and he woke up sitting in his chair and then sent Rebekah to her room, he had time alone to contemplate the events of the day, and he started second guessing everything. He had a tough time falling back to sleep last night which is why he slept so late this morning, but now all his worries were for naught because she said yes.

The plan he put into motion just over six weeks ago is finally complete. Bonnie Bennett is his for the rest of eternity. He's hers too, even though he doesn't think she's fully realized that part yet, but like I said all those weeks ago, the important part to him is that she's his and he'll never let her go.

Now that they did The Linking Spell he'll never need to let her go either. He'll never have to watch as some enemy tortures and kills her to get at him or his siblings. She's as safe as he can make her. 'She's safe.'

A moment later, she begins to stir, and when her eyes flutter open, he's slammed with her emotions flowing into him over the link. He thinks in awed wonder, 'Um Wow, she really does love me, no question about that.'

He can feel her physical responses as if they are his own, and there is a tightening in her chest, and her ears, neck, and face all feel hot, so he knows she's also embarrassed, and she's shaking all over and experiencing waves of cold washing over her body, so he correctly surmises that she's overwhelmed too.

The embarrassment is because she came twice, and Kol and I are both sure if she's ever cum before it was by her own hand with no one else present. Her being overwhelmed though is likely due to her feeling his emotions.

When her eyes focus on his face, she says, "You-you're relieved and you… you really do love me, like a Forever Love."

He smiles and nods before telling her, "I wouldn't have suggested this spell if I didn't, Little Bella." He pauses then tells her words he's only ever said to his siblings, "Always and Forever, Bonnie."

My baby girl smiles a beaming smile and tells him, "Me too, Kol, I'll love you, Always and Forever."

Smiling he tells her, "Well, I hope so because you're stuck with me now."

She giggles and then surprises him by wiggling up his body a little until her mouth can reach his. A moment later she leans down and kisses him, soft and sweet.

His hands come up to her back and hold her tightly, though he's mindful not to squeeze her too tightly. Even if he can't kill her anymore, he doesn't wish to cause her pain, so he works extra hard at being as gentle as he can manage.

He decides to let his lady love lead, so he just kisses her with closed lips until her tongue traces the seam of his lips, and he lets out a sigh allowing her to slip her tongue into his mouth.

He thinks, 'My mate may be young and inexperienced, but she's an excellent kisser.'

As their tongues tangle her hands travel over his bare chest and abdominal muscles, sliding over the grooves of each muscle and sending little sparks shooting through his body with every gentle touch.

He gasps when her fingers gently grasp his nipple and twist ever so slightly, so he pulls his lips away from hers and tells her, "Harder, Little Bella."

She pulls away and looks at him with wide eyes and then seems to realize what she was doing and with quickly reddening cheeks she pulls her hand away from his chest.

Grabbing her hand, Kol lays it flat over his heart with his hand on top of hers, and while the scent of her blush fills his senses she buries her face in the crook of his neck, so he tells her, "There's no need to be embarrassed, Little Bella. The spell we just did made us one in God's eyes, and while I fully intend to eventually make vows with you in front of God and everybody that doesn't change that so far as God is concerned, we are one now."

At his words, she snuggles deeper into him so smiling slightly he continues, "For the record, I was enjoying your ministrations, and as I said you're stuck with me now, so private things between us are just that: between us. You never need to be embarrassed with me. I guarantee there isn't a single thing you could possibly want to do to me or want me to do to you that I would laugh at. And the only things I would object to are things that would hurt you beyond the realm of any pleasurable pain. So, I want you to do what you're comfortable with, but don't hide from me."

My heavily blushing granddaughter whispers into his throat, "You have a lot of experience."

Nodding he tangles his hand in her hair to use it as leverage to get her to look at him. When her eyes focus on his, he tells her, "I do have a lot of experience, though, all of it predates April 1702 after Chalina died, but think of it this way, there probably isn't anything I haven't tried before. Therefore, I'll know if I like something or not, and I'll tell you if you try to do something I don't like, though, I honestly can't think of what that might be. Think of it as a blessing because I've had a lot of practice, so I'll be able to make you feel amazing without any fumbling."

She frowns while she looks into his eyes and then looks away before she mumbles, "What if I'm no good?"

He smiles and turns her head a bit so she's looking into his eyes again before he tells her, "On the very off chance that that is true then it's a good thing I know what I'm doing and can teach you, but to be honest I highly doubt you won't be any good. Bonnie, men and women have been intimate for millennia, far longer than I've existed that's for sure, and in all my long years walking this earth I've never met a woman who was terrible. She might have been inexperienced like you are but that's not necessarily a terrible thing, in fact, I'm quite pleased you haven't done more than kissing or over the clothes groping with anyone. That means I don't have to go kill anyone for knowing you that way, which is especially fortuitous because I'm rather fond of your ex-boyfriend."

She giggles at his mention of his fondness of Jeremy. He smiles at her gently and nods before he says, "The point is: I can teach you what I like as we both learn what you like. Your inexperience isn't a terrible thing Bonnie, and it's temporary at that."

I let out a little breath because he handled that very well. I worried at first that he'd push too hard and too fast now that they're linked but my worries were very obviously misplaced.

My baby girl nods so he flips them over and then leans down and kisses her. He slowly brings his hand up to her stomach and caresses her over her blouse while he kisses her senseless.

Still moving slowly, to give her a chance to object, he slides his hand down to her hip and then back up under her blouse. She stiffens but he just rubs his tongue along hers, and she gets right back into the kiss.

He just leaves his hand resting on her bare stomach with his fingers brushing back and forth while he kisses her until she hesitantly takes her trembling hand and wraps it around his wrist before moving his hand up closer to her chest.

Smiling, he pulls back and looks at her. She turns several shades of crimson so grinning, he leans down close to her ear and tells her, "That's it, Little Bella. I won't know when you're ready for me to move forward unless you tell me."

She nods so he moves his hand higher until it cups her breast. She's still trembling, and she freezes again, but instead of pulling back he freezes, too, giving her the opportunity to grow accustomed to his hand being there.

Going back to kissing her he waits a minute then he gently squeezes her breast before guessing where her nipple is and rubbing his thumb over it, smiling when it becomes a little pebble.

She's moaning while he rubs against her breast. I'm contemplating leaving them to it, but I want to make sure he doesn't pressure her into doing anything she's not ready for. So, I stay and frown when he takes his thumb and index finger and grips her little nipple through the lace of her bra and twists just slightly causing her to gasp and say, "God, Kol, please."

He smiles against her lips and pulls back asking, "What do you want, Little Bella?"

My insecure grandbaby looks at him, and we can both clearly see her fear of disappointing her mate. Thankfully, he's intuitive so nips that in the bud and tells her, "Don't do that Bonnie, I asked what you want, not what I want because right now I only want what you want. You will never disappoint me in bed, okay? You might wind me up and then stop us causing me to have to go take a very cold shower, but I'm willing to live with that and go at your pace. Remember what I said earlier? We go as fast or as slow as you want, and we stop when you want to stop. If you don't want to go any farther right now tell me. I promise I won't become angry."

Still trembling, she frowns and averts her eyes before she tells him, "I'm sorry now I'm making you repeat yourself."

He smiles gently and brushes some hair away from her eyes before he tells her, "It's okay, you're nervous and experiencing new things, so it's understandable. Plus, if I'm doing things correctly, it should be very difficult for you to think straight."

She giggles but then sits up and pulls her top up and off before laying back down.

She has her green-eyes screwed shut tight as though she's a little child waiting for a scolding and is too scared to look at her parent. The fact of the matter is, now that they've done that linking spell they're essentially married so she shouldn't worry that he's going to think less of her or criticize her for behaving that way.

He strokes her cheek and tells her, "Look at me, Bonnie."

With slightly red cheeks, she opens one eye a crack and peeks at him, so being uncharacteristically patient he smiles and then leans down and kisses her causing her other eye to open while her hands come up to his back and begin tracing patterns on his skin, which he thinks is nice.

Stroking his fingers along the smooth skin of her stomach he brings his hand back to her bra and palms the lace covered globe before once again using his thumb to stroke her nipple.

Bonnie's hips are undulating while she brings a hand to his chest and tweaks his nipple. He does the same to her nipple, and then he switches breasts and squeezes and rubs the other one, so it doesn't feel left out.

She relaxes ever so slightly and opens her eyes and looks at him. He's smiling even when she pulls away and says, "If I do something, can I do it, and then we stop?"

He's super relaxed and content, so he nods and tells her, "At your pace, Little Bella."

Sitting up again, she ignores her own trembling and then reaches behind herself, and both mine and Kol's eyes widen when we realize what she's planning to do.

A moment later her bra loosens, and she slowly pulls it away from her chest before she begins looking everywhere but at her mate, so Kol smiles appreciatively and tells her, "Look at me, Bonnie."

When she looks at him he tells her as honestly as he can, "You're beautiful, Little Bella, actually, that's not a strong enough word, you're actually absolutely stunning. Now, I know you want to stop, so I propose we lay like this for a little while, and then we can put our shirts back on."

She bites her lip while she looks at him seriously and then asks, "You don't mind?"

Smiling down at her, he proves that I truly can trust him with my precious girl when he reaches up and strokes her blushing cheek before saying, "No, I don't mind. I'm actually looking forward to feeling your skin on mine."

He finishes by laying her back against the pillows and then rolling them so that she's on top of him again, which has an unintended consequence of her coming into contact with his hardness through his jeans.

She freezes again, but then she wiggles a little, so he laughs and tells her, "Don't be a tease, Little Bella. You said we're stopping so…"

She blushes but says, "Sorry, it's just, well, I've never, um, well…"

Smiling, he asks, "That's the first time you've felt a man's penis?"

Burying her face in his neck again, she nods.

Kol just laughs and tells her, "Well if I'm lucky it won't be the last time."

She giggles while he looks over at the bedside table to see that between losing consciousness and their playing, a handful of hours have passed, and it's now 12:30 p.m.

Kol strokes his hand over her hair and bare back before asking, "Do you have plans today, Little Bella?"

While she's slightly tense laying against him, she nods and says, "I'm planning to visit each of my friends this afternoon and tell them that I'm moving with you. I texted them all except Caroline this morning before I picked Beks up for school. I'll be seeing Damon at 1:45, then Tyler at 2:30, and Matt at 3:15 because it's his day off, so I don't have to compete with his work schedule."

She shifts slightly and blushes even more when she feels him through his jeans again. She doesn't comment on it though and instead says, "Then when I'm done with Matt I'll be meeting Stefan for coffee. Once that's done I'll be stopping by the Gilbert's house to tell Elena, though, I haven't warned her that I'm coming because last night on the ride home Jer suggested I don't give his sister advance notice."

He nods so she reaches up and pecks his lips before saying, "I'll be calling Caroline when I'm done with Elena, and I'll probably go over to her house and fill her in."

He smiles before he gently squeezes her and asks, "What prompted that order?"

Smiling into his chest, she's slowly relaxing so she snuggles in closer to him, drawing designs on his chest with her fingers just above his heart and tells him, "Except for Caroline, who is last to keep her from blabbing before I talk to everyone, they're in order of least nerve-wracking to most. If I wasn't worried Caroline would be too excited and would tell everyone I'd have told her first, but this way is better so I won't get angry with her for causing unnecessary tension by having a big mouth."

He chuckles and tells my grandbaby, "Caroline is well-intentioned, but I agree that she gets excited and tells things she shouldn't to people she shouldn't. I think that's about the only major character flaw she has from what I've seen, and I can honestly say that other than that one thing I completely understand what my brother sees in her. I actually think they're an incredibly good match, to be honest."

She giggles and then tells him honestly, "She's also neurotic and doesn't have the greatest self-esteem though I've noticed that's less of an issue since she became a vampire. In fact, other than the fact that she killed someone before she knew what was happening to her when she first turned I'd say becoming a vampire has been good for her."

He chuckles, too, "That's the first time I think I've ever heard that said."

Nodding, she tells him, "I can imagine, but it's true. She's grown into herself a lot since she transitioned, and it's a good look on her. I also know she has surprisingly good control over the bloodlust because I've been hurt a few times since she transitioned. Several of the wounds were a bloody mess, and she didn't even get vein-ey eyed never mind showing her fangs even though she helped me tend to each wound. Out of all the vampires I know besides you and your family she's the one I trust the most not to hurt someone by accident, or on purpose for that matter. Anyway, that's helped by the fact that she didn't have an angry bone in her body before the change, so her rage is almost nonexistent."

Kol smiles and admits, "Young Caroline is incredibly lucky then. Most new vampires don't take anywhere near the three or so centuries it took me to be able to be near an open wound without going berserk. It's still unheard of for a vampire under two years old to be well controlled enough to help tend to bloody wounds without their veins and fangs showing even a little. Her self-control and likely her willpower not to be violent despite what she became are likely among the strongest I've ever encountered."

He pauses and then concedes, "Well, actually, Elijah might beat her in his desire and ability to control himself despite his surroundings, but it's a near thing."

My baby girl smiles back and asks, "She really is lucky. Would you mind if I tell her what you said about her only being behind Elijah in her self-control? I know she really admires him and his restraint. I think she actually actively tries to emulate him as though he's the vampire she wants to be most like when it comes to that sort of thing. So, she'd be pleased as punch to hear that you of all people compared her level of control to your brother's control."

He smiles wider and nods telling her, "There are certainly worse people she could try to emulate, so feel free to tell her what I said because I really do think that her age is the only thing keeping her from actually being tied with Elijah. By the time she reaches his current age my guess is her control will far surpass his because she's so close to him now at less than two years old, and he's had over a thousand years to perfect his control. Little known fact: Even Elijah took a few decades to be able to control himself so well around blood. He never would have been able to help you dress bloody wounds in the second year of his vampire existence, so she's truly remarkable, and I think she needs to know that, so feel free to tell her what I said. Or if you like I can talk to her and tell her myself."

Smiling widely, she tells him, "I'll tell her, but feel free to reiterate the message if you want to."

He laughs and nods before she frowns a little and asks, "Uh can I tell her that you keep a list of the names of your victims? She has a list of all six of her victims in the back of her journal, and she reads it every day before she leaves her house to remind herself that she needs to be in control. Although honestly, to my knowledge only one of them was a result of her losing control. The others were when she was protecting people. Two deputies when Mason Lockwood told her mom that Damon and Stefan are vampires and then I think there were three werewolves that she killed protecting everybody. Anyway, I think she'll take comfort in the knowledge that you keep a list too and do your best to remember each of your victims to honor them."

He strokes her back again and nods before telling her, "Of course, Little Bella. I was serious all those weeks ago when I told you nothing I had told you is a secret. In fact, feel free to assume nothing I have or will tell you is intended to be a secret unless I specifically tell you it's only to be between us."

She nods and says, "Okay, if you're sure. I almost told her about Eija the other day, but I wasn't sure if you'd like that."

He smiles at her obviously pleased by her consideration and trustworthiness. He squeezes her gently and says, "I don't mind you telling her or Jer about Eija, but I'd rather the Salvatores know as little about me as possible if you can manage it."

She nods against his chest and says, "I figured that much. I don't even want them knowing stuff about me, so I certainly wouldn't go telling them anything important about you or the rest of your family."

He realizes that this may very well be his opportunity to solve one mystery, so he frowns and asks her, "Will you tell me why you don't like Stefan so much?"

He squeezes her and drops a kiss to the top of her head when she grows tense at the mention of the younger vampire's name before he continues by telling her, "Even my just saying his name a moment ago has your muscles all tense and your breathing picked up a bit, too. Did he hurt you?"

She lifts her head, and although she's frowning at him he smiles reassuringly before she leans up and kisses him briefly then she pulls back and says, "Remember I told you about the tomb full of vampires?"

He nods so she nods back and continues, "Well, my grams died because she overexerted herself helping me take down the spell keeping them locked in. The only reason we had to take it down was that Stefan ran in there after his brother and Elena wouldn't let us leave him there. But that's not why I don't like him because despite being an only child I get that the bonds of family are the most important things in the world, so I'm not really mad about that. I still regret that I wasn't strong enough to do it on my own, but I've stopped blaming Stefan for Grams' death. However, the Tomb Vamps escaped, and they kidnapped Stefan. Elena, Damon, and Ric went and rescued him, but he was tortured and so severely injured and weakened that it became necessary for Elena to feed him her own blood to make him strong enough to protect them both."

She leans her cheek against his shoulder again and squeezes her arm around him before saying, "After that, it was like he was addicted to human blood, which now that I know he's a ripper is pretty accurate. Anyhow, the reason I don't like him is that instead of admitting to Elena and Damon that he was struggling, he tried to handle it on his own and he nearly killed this girl Amber at the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. And then he just ran off after dropping her when we interrupted him in the process of draining her. He acts like he's so righteous, but really he's just as bad or heck even worse than Damon."

She lifts her head and looks him in the eye before saying, "I'll be honest, I don't like Damon. The things he did to my best friend when he first showed up in town are unforgivable. The only reason I'm even willing to consider forgiving him and sort of being his friend is that we all know he behaved that way because his switch was off. It was still him who raped and abused my bestie, but he's since apologized to her and Care says she believes he was genuine, so I'm working on forgiving him, too. However, even without forgiving him I would much prefer Damon over his brother because Damon at least can be around human blood and not go nuts. Stefan gets a whiff of it, and he goes off the rails, and everyone forgives him for it because 'hey it's Stefan and he's not evil like his brother.'"

Pausing with a frown on her face she then tells him something she's never admitted to anyone before, "Really I think most people have the brothers backward because although Damon has killed thousands of people, he did it because he turned his switch off. I heard Stefan and Damon talking once, and Stefan told Damon that other than right at the start of being a vampire he never turned his emotions off. He turned them back on pretty quickly because apparently the kill is more fun with emotions, or so he said, and then has left them on entirely, except for when Nik compelled him to turn them off. That means at least 99% of Stefan's victims were killed by him while his switch was still on."

She shrugs and says, "He's sort of like you only he tortured his victims and enjoyed the kills whereas I get the sense that the people you killed were because you lost control momentarily. Take the tavern in Spain after Chalina died, correct me if I'm wrong, but you snapped because of your anger and grief and killed them all in a matter of minutes. Did you torture any of them?"

He shakes his head, so my precious girl nods and continues, "I didn't think so. You snapped and killed them meanwhile he hunted and tortured millions of people for the 'fun' of it."

His chestnut eyes widen at that, and she knows he thinks she's overestimating the number of people the younger vampire has killed. Stefan's only been a vampire for about 145 years so one would assume that he couldn't have killed that many more people than Kol has in just over 600 years. She's not over exaggerating though so she shrugs and tells him, "Anyway I did a little research, and he's a true monster any way you look at him, and everyone just buys into his 'poor me, I'm so tortured by my past sins' routine. Well, I know the truth, so I don't buy his act and mark my words that's all it is: An act he puts on to keep Elena and others from casting him in the same light that they cast Damon in. Really if I had to choose between the two brothers, I'd pick Damon, and that was true even before my premonition when I realized Damon loves Elena more than he loves himself. In that vision, Stefan went back out to hunt without you influencing him, and I think that's who he truly is: A predator in sheep's clothing who's got everyone else around him fooled into believing he's harmless. He's anything but harmless, and I will never trust him or turn my back to him."

When she looks up at Kol's face, his eyes are wide, and his mouth is hanging open a little. He obviously knew that Stefan is a sanctimonious ass and holier-than-thou towards everyone, but if you believe Finn, and I'm inclined to accept every word he says to me, then Kol doesn't know the half of it when it comes to who and what Stefan really is.

He doesn't doubt Bonnie's estimation of Stefan though, which he shows her by saying, "If your instincts tell you not to show any weakness then don't. Like I told you that first day in the Salvatore's basement, your instincts are strong. I don't think they'll lead you astray."

She nods and then snuggles further into him, so they just lay there enjoying each other's company until it's time for her to get up and put her clothes back on.

Forty minutes later she's practically asleep while he rubs her back before he tells her, "Time to get up, Little Bella. You don't want to keep Damon waiting."

Giggling, she smiles and tells a grinning Kol, "No, I don't because he's another guy in my life that doesn't do well with boredom."

Kol chuckles while he reaches over beside them and picks up her hot pink lace bra handing it to her. She blushes again and then sits up, and without looking at him, she quickly puts it back on. Then she picks up her pink and purple top and slips it on over her head before leaning down and kissing him.

"I'll come back when I'm done with Caroline, okay?"

He nods, so she pecks him on the lips one last time before saying, "Love you," and then he watches while she gets off the bed, grabs her purse from beside the chair in the corner, goes into his bathroom to tame her hair with the brush she takes out of her bag and then she quietly leaves the room.